Jacinda Ardern’s fury as UK travellers bring coronavirus back to NZ
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has acknowledged a “failure” after two international visitors were allowed to roam her country with COVID-19.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has slammed the border bungle that allowed two UK residents, who have now been diagnosed with COVID-19, into her country as “totally unacceptable”.
Admitting a “process failure” allowed the two women to enter the country in Auckland and travel to Wellington, Ms Arden announced an even stricter crackdown on border control and quarantine measures.
After the error, which saw New Zealand have to give up its claim of being coronavirus-free, no new arrivals to the country will be exempt from quarantine on compassionate grounds.
“Our efforts to date to beat the virus have been extraordinary,” she said on Wednesday.
“However, there is no room for error - even if it is human error. It is totally unacceptable that procedures we were advised were in place were not. Our job is now to fix that and that is exactly what I intend to do.”
New Zealand maintains strict border controls were in place, meaning people who aren’t citizens or essential workers are not allowed in unless they have exceptional circumstances.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the two women who flew to New Zealand from Britain tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
They were allowed to leave their managed isolation at the Novotel Ellerslie in Auckland to drive to Wellington, on the basis they were tested in the capital. Those tests returned positive results yesterday.
The women said they did not stop for fuel or supplies on their road trip. They apparently took a toilet stop on the side of the road.
One of the women had mild symptoms before being tested, but this was put down to a pre-existing condition.
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Ms Ardern said the two cases meant she needed to make further restrictions to her country’s border control.
“We will suspend access to compassionate leave until we can be confident that everything that was required to keep us safe (at the border) is actually happening on the ground,” she said.
“The suspension of compassionate exemptions will continue until such time as we can guarantee a disciplined and rigorous system at the border that ministers have confidence in.
“I know this will be upsetting to some New Zealanders seeking to return home, to visit dying relatives and loved ones....However, the risk to our collective efforts to eliminate COVID are simply too great. I cannot allow the gains we have all made to be squandered by processes not being upheld.
“This case has proven our need for caution. While it may be a hard and unpopular position to take, it is the right one for our country.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand National Party leader Todd Muller says the nation’s Health Minister’s head should roll over the coronavirus border blunder.
New Zealand had gone over three weeks without an active case, celebrating being one of the first countries in the world to essentially eradicate the virus.
Mr Muller said the two new cases from overseas arrivals, who are part of the same family, was “unacceptable”.
Mr Muller said this “blunder” will take a major economic toll on New Zealand because it will push back the trans-Tasman bubble and the return of international students, and that he was “furious” that border protocols weren’t properly followed.
“The fact that officials have the ability to decide themselves on any given day what elements of the rules they think should apply or not apply is untenable and it needs to be urgently fixed,” Muller said.
“The opportunity to open up to international students has definitely been delayed. The opportunity to open up a trans-Tasman bubble has been delayed.
“It undermines confidence in our border management, and that is completely unacceptable when you think about the thousands of jobs that are expected to be lost over the next weeks and months.”
Overnight, Ms Ardern responded to the new cases in New Zealand via a Facebook video, saying there would be a review into how the women entered the country.
“This case is clear – our expectations … have not been met in this instance,” she said during the video.
“The two cases that came in from overseas that were announced today were not announced under the circumstances that we would have expected at our border.
“We are reviewing exactly what has happened in these circumstances because they cannot be repeated.
“Ultimately, after taking a look at what has happened here there is already an expectation that no one leaves quarantine until they have completed their two weeks (isolation) and have been tested.
“Of course that was our expectation already, so that is where there is a failure in this case.”
New Zealand’s Police Minister Stuart Nash, who appeared on Newstalk ZB on Wednesday, said that someone needed to be held to account for the bungle.
“I cannot repeat the words on your show that I said when I heard what had happened,” Mr Nash said.
“Someone does need to be held to account. We need to have a review of what’s happening in quarantine because it’s totally unacceptable, when five million Kiwis do it real tough.
“To get this sort of ineptitude, man it is unforgivable. As David said, he’s cancelled compassionate dispensation and there’s a review of the system. Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Health Minister David Clark said there will be consequences for the people who had made the mistake.
“I want it fixed. That’s my first priority,” he told New Zealand’’s Newstalk ZB’s radio host, Mike Hosking.
“There will be consequences if it’s found people have failed in their duty. I am quite certain that people who have made this mistake will not be making it again.
“We have to find out exactly what happened … it’s fallen short of what New Zealanders expect. I am very disappointed.”
With New Zealand Herald
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